In the anti-Obamasphere and the skeptical-of-Obamasphere, it’s not just women bloggers who have made the claims you list above. Lots of men have made those claims, too, and lots of Democratic men still would prefer Clinton as the nominee. I think the reason you saw many women bloggers gravitate to Clinton, or write sympathetically about the beating she was taking from the media, is because of the obvious, rampant, pathological misogyny that her campaign revealed. And for feminist bloggers, that’s an issue whose history and importance goes way beyond one election campaign!

“women perhaps [see] their blogs as their living rooms or salons where they have conversations with like-minded people, whereas men may see it as more of a space for Mortal Kombat-type debates.”

suburban guerilla set me straight that she thought it was more like the living room situation, I told her I thought it was more like a bar room where I would argue politics in exactly the same way.
–and I know I blew it when I lumped in historian with some of the more extreme kooks at no quarter and confluence without actually taking the time to figure out that there was a more serious discussion of issues and an academic focus here.

I believe you asserted at one point that I just had a problem with women bloggers–which I thought was bunk, but since I didn’t want to write some dumb ass cliche I just dropped it–and of course, I couldn’t respond because the blog in question would not permit me to…

It does seem as though the obama-clinton split led to a lot of angst and unpleasantness, but I find that the level of bullshit currently being leveled at obama from some quarters is totally out of hand and far beyond the slights–real and imagined–that were leveled at clinton.

I have seen some female bloggers and commenters do the following:

refer to the russert debate as a “wilding” because hillary clinton got unpleasant questions about her policy views on illegal immigrants and driver’s licenses.

claim that a candidate scratching his face was really him another candidate the finger.

claim a WNBA fight in which a male coach broke up the fight as he would in an NBA game was evidence of obama’s misogyny since he himself liked to play basketball.

that seems to be a bit much–in my mind.

But, all of the above discussion is a helpful reminder to make sure one’s register always matches the level of discourse of the blog in question and to not just lump all together on the basis of something stupid like a particular candidate preference.

I’m not about censorship–please note, I am not the state, and this is not a government blog. I’m about preserving safe spaces for likeminded people to talk about what they want to talk about. My blog is a salon, and all are welcome to join in so long as they stay on topic and refrain from insulting one another and using bad language. This is my blog, and as in a classroom, I get to set the rules. I have no intention of letting hostile strangers abuse me or my commenters or jack my threads.

I also don’t understand why people who aren’t wanted and whose contributions aren’t appreciated would keep coming around. The great thing about the non peer-reviewed internets is that you can find likeminded people if you really want to–so find blogs where your comments are appreciated!